BOOKS
THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU 12–25 JAN 2018 41
This small book
packs quite a punch.
Melbourne copy editor
Meredith Forrester not
only winsomely corrects
President Trump’s
ungrammatical tweets
(his “overuse of Capital
Letters, errant commas
and made-up words”)
but also, along the way, explains some of
the peskier problems of word wrangling.
If you want to both snigger at Trump’s
“crimes against the English language in
140 characters” and learn how and when
to correctly use “I” or “me”, recognise
the difference between a hyphen and a
dash and work out the problems around
a dangling modifier, then this book is for
you. It’s very funny. Forrester includes
a dictionary of words that Trump has
mangled (“unpresidented” when he means
“unprecedented”, for instance). Working
“backstage, dressed in black”, the author
elucidates grammatical and punctuation
basics simply and effectively. The book is
perfect for anyone who cares (or should care)
about how to use language correctly. As
Forrester points out: “Grammar is for all of
us. And it’s always been great.” THUY ON
MAKE GRAM MAR
GREAT AGAIN
MEREDITH FORRESTER
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This is a collection of “10-and-a -quarter new stories of murder and
mayhem” (the quarter refers to a tiny, but effective, ghost tale). Oddly
enough, many of them are focused on domestic infelicities; of infidelities
and other relationship traumas that apparently necessitate homicidal
thoughts and actions. As Sophie Hannah says in her introduction, “a
recurring theme is the human ego and the harm it can do”. Ruth Rendell
has a well-deserved reputation of producing psychologically astute crime
fiction novels, but she proves equally adept at the short story form. Each one is a self-contained
unit. Though, as is usual in anthologies, some pieces work better than others, on the whole A
Spot of Folly is as diverting and entertaining as her longer works. Rendell has published seven
books of stories already, but these contributions are all new, uncollected material. They provide
a good taster for readers unaware of her talents to whet their appetites, as well as for seasoned
fans who would like to dip into something shorter in between novels. THUY ON
Did you know that when the Aeroplane Jelly jingle first hit radio, it was
sung live in the studio each time? Or that the line in ‘Waltzing Matilda’
about a boiling billy was added later to help sell tea? Or that pint
glasses were eliminated from pubs in 1942 to curb drinking during an
Australian grain shortage? These facts and many other milestones and
case studies make up Jan O’Connell’s fascinating timeline of Australian
cuisine since settlement, which stretches from the advent of the first
“Australian” cookbook through to Australia’s vastly different food landscape today. O’Connell
pinpoints the drivers of culinary change, demonstrating the effects of colonialism, migration,
shifts in the economy, technology and fashion on what Australians eat and drink. The book is
tremendously well-researched, with most timeline items accompanied by an illustration from
the archives, providing unique insight into the forces that shaped the meals Australians sit down
to today. This is a compelling read for food lovers and history buffs alike. SAM VAN ZWEDEN
A SPOT OF FOLLY
RUTH RENDELL
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I AM A spelling and grammar Nazi, so it was with some trepidation that I
picked up Emmy J Favilla’s A World Without “Whom”, though I was slightly
reassured by the frontcover recommendation from Lynne Truss, the (in)
famous author of Eats, Shoots & Leaves (a bestseller about, of all things,
the correct use of punctuation). Favilla happens to be the copy chief of
BuzzFeed and her book is promoted as “The Essential Guide to Language
in the BuzzFeed Age”. What that actually means is that she is not into
rules, “ because how can anyone in good conscience create blanket rules
for something as fluid, as personal and as alive as language?” So, we have a
writer who is anti-prescriptive in terms of language (which sounds in itself
paradoxical). The book, in a suitably breezy tone, tells us how she created
a style guide for BuzzFeed, an online site known for being lightweight and
conversational itself. It’s about language people actually use in real life and
online, about how technology influences how we speak and write. There is
a lot to unpack, and Favilla makes a good point (though purists, like me,
shudder): “Terms and phrases traditionally regarded as unquestionably
erroneous will enter common use, and after enough exposure to them our
resistance will be futile.”
THUY ON > Books Editor
A TIMELINE OF AUSTRALIAN FOOD
JAN O’CONNELL
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